Love
by CommanderLavellan
Summary: [Cutscene with Cole and Inquisitor after Cole becomes more human.] Trevelyan invited Cole and Varric out, celebrating Cole's new found humanity. (Part 2 to 'Reminders' – you don't need to read it to understand this one shot.)


**Pairing:** Cole/F!Trevelyan [Mentions of Cullen/F!Trevelyan]

 **Summary:** [Cutscene with Cole and Inquisitor after Cole becomes more human.] Trevelyan invited Cole and Varric out, celebrating Cole's new found humanity. (Part 2 to 'Reminders' – you don't need to read it to understand this one shot.) Shout out to blubaloooo from dA (deviantart) who wanted a second chapter. I hope she enjoyed this ^_^

 **A/N:** Shout out to blubaloooo from dA (deviantart) who wanted a second chapter. I hope she enjoyed this ^_^

* * *

"Inquisitor!" The hostess of a small outside restaurant near Val Royeaux greeted Trevelyan and her companions, "Master Tethras and…?"

"Cole." Cole spoke meekly, stepping out from behind Trevelyan. Trevelyan smiled and turned her head to look at Cole, who stood in her blind spot. Varric walked up behind them, Bianca strapped to his back.

"Cole." The hostess smiled through her mask and nodded her head, "Right this way." The hostess lead them to a secluded table in the back, much to their relief so they could speak privately.

"Thank you." Trevelyan sat down, Varric and Cole taking their own seats at the small table. Varric unclipped Bianca from his back and set it down on the table.

" _Really_?" Trevelyan chuckled, moving Bianca closer to Varric.

"Just bring us a pitcher of your _finest_ Ale and some cups." Varric leaned back against the chair, smiling to the hostess.

"Of course, Master Tethras." The hostess chirped, giggling, "Also...if you wouldn't mind, I have one of your books in the back...would you mind signing it before you leave?"

Varric nodded and smirked, "Of course, anything for a fan." The hostess scurried away.

"I haven't seen a fangirl like that in years." Trevelyan crossed her arms and leaned forwards onto the table, smiling.

"So," Varric started after a long pause, "I...uhh...heard about you and Curly."

Trevelyan pursed her lips, looking down at the table. Cullen had decided it was best to keep things professional after they came back from Adamant Fortress, almost loosing her triggered something that he refused to speak about. He shut her out, completely, of anything that didn't involve the Inquisition.

"Rumor has it," Varric chuckled, "You've been eyeing Sir Warden Blackwall."

Trevelyan chocked on her drunk and stuttered, "W—What? That's... _insane_. Josephine likes him, he likes her back. Who the hell said that?"

"He feels naked without the name on the armor," Cole spoke, "But he knows you want him naked."

"I don't like him!" Trevelyan's cheeks were stained with red, "And I sure as hell _don't_ want to see him naked—Wait...he knows _I_ want him naked?"

"A-hah," Varric laughed, "You just gave yourself up, Inquisitor."

"I don't want to see him naked! I—I don't like him." Trevelyan sunk down in her chair, her arms crossed and her lips pouting.

"You two you be prefect together," Varric looked at Trevelyan, "Just imagine the black haired, freckled faces of your own broody children."

"Yes," Trevelyan rolled her eyes and shook her head, sitting up in her chair, "Blackwall and I would be perfect together. All broody and regretful—comparing what we could have done differently and bitch about darkspawn. What a _lovely_ life." Cole chuckled, watching Trevelyan and Varric banter back and forth. Their Ale was soon placed in front of them, three glasses with it, as Trevelyan changed the subject.

"Now, let us not forget why we are here celebrating." Trevelyan smiled at Cole as Varric poured their Ale, "To my favorite rogue—"

Varric, hurtfully, gasped.

"—Cole, who is now…human."

"He isn't your favorite rogue...is he?" Varric pouted. Trevelyan smirked and started drinking, ignoring Varric's question.

"That's hurtful." Varric laughed, drinking as well. Cole tilted his head and looked down at his glass, curious.

"This is what you drink to forget," Cole said, picking the glass up, "But I don't want to forget."

Trevelyan laughed, "You don't have to drink it, Cole. Baby-steps. You just being here, letting people see you, is an amazing first step."

"I...I don't know if I did." Cole looked at Trevelyan, his face unreadable, "I find people when their pain leaves them open. I ease the pain. I leave. They forget...That was enough for me. Now they remember, and I'm not sure...ah." Cole chuckled, sitting up in his chair and smiling.

"Cole?" Trevelyan asked, setting her glass down. She tilted her head towards him as his smile grew. Trevelyan glanced at Varric, who also had the same reaction.

"I think we broke him." Varric furrowed his brows.

"I told you about Rhys, the mage who could see me...my friend...my _only_ friend, for a long time. Evangeline showed me that templar's could be kind, but even she..." Cole sighed, a flash of a pained expression showed on his face before Trevelyan spoke.

"Cole," Trevelyan placed a hand over his, his gaze instantly fixed on her hand, "If this is troubling you, we don't have to talk about it."

Cole hid his face from Trevelyan behind his hat, but Varric saw the radiant smile and tinted cheeks as she spoke, "Gentle. You watch me walk into darkness over and over, and you always worry. Thank you. But this isn't about them. It's about...When I found out I wasn't human, when I grew, I lost Rhys. I lost my only friend. That's why I was scared about letting all these people see me. That's why I laughed."

Trevelyan opened her mouth to reply, but Varric cut in, "You laughing at yourself, Kid?"

"Yes." Cole quickly replied, turned his head to Varric, "This world taught me that changing means losing your friends. But now I know that doesn't have to be true. I have enough self to know that what I felt was foolish. Isn't it wonderful?" Cole looked back at Trevelyan with hopeful eyes.

"It is." Trevelyan chuckled, picking up her glass, "Don't ever think that you'll be losing me as a friend. You're stuck with me, forever."

"Me too, Kid." Varric raised his glass, "Me too."

"I might like being human," Cole looked down at the glass, tilting his head again, "What do you think I'll learn next?"

"I have a couple idea's." Varric smirked, setting his glass back down.

"Varric." Trevelyan narrowed her eyes, warning him.

"What?" Varric leaned back in his chair, "You don't know _what_ I'm thinking."

Trevelyan sarcastically laughed, leaning forward, "I know _exactly_ what you're thinking. I overheard you with Bull and Blackwall back at camp."

"What do you want to teach me?" Cole looked between them.

" _Nothing_." Trevelyan glared at Varric, "He will teach you nothing."

"I doubt they have any around here anyways." Varric shrugged.

"Any what?" Cole stared at the two confused as they continued to glare at each other.

"Pros—"

"Varric!" Trevelyan tapped her finger against the table, her shoulders tense as she tried to control her anger.

"...This is one of those hitting moments, yes?" Cole moved his chair closer to Varric, he could feel the rage radiating off of Trevelyan.

Varric chuckled, "There! You just learned something new. When the Inquisitor's face turns ruby red—you move, or run away as fast as you can."

"Which should I be doing right now?" Cole leaned back in her chair, his fingers gripping at the edges.

"Just lean as far away as possible, Kid. She'll calm down when she's had a few more drinks." Varric leaned forward, pushing the pitcher closer to Trevelyan.

"No women." Trevelyan drank the rest of her glass and poured herself more, "Not yet."

" _Yet_ , is good." Varric chuckled, seeing Trevelyan drink another glass, "Don't drink too much, Inquisitor. I can't carry you back to the camp."

"I handle liquor better than you, Varric." Trevelyan glared at Varric, her cheeks already flushed from the alcohol.

Varric raised an eyebrow, smirking, "Yah-huh. Watch out for the Inquisitor, Kid. She's grabby when she's drunk."

"I _will_ kill you, Varric."

* * *

Trevelyan did end up getting drunk, Varric keeping his promise of not carrying her. Cole was giving Trevelyan a piggy-back ride, leaning her cheek against his shoulder blade as he walked them back to camp. Trevelyan was anything but grabby while drunk. She tried to walk back to camp on her own, but kept either losing her footing or walking into a bush, plant or tree. She hadn't been drunk since her sudden blindness, she had just gotten use to fighting without a depth perception. She shouldn't have drunk so much. Varric got fed up with waiting for Trevelyan to admit she needed help and forced Cole to pick her up.

"You won't admit you need help," Cole held his hand out, his eyes moving from side to side as he spoke, "But as your...friend, I am ignoring your request and am helping you...anyway."

Even if Cole had given Trevelyan an option to refuse, she wouldn't have. Cole helped her on her back, his hat had gotten in the way and Varric offered to hold it.

"How do you fight in his?" Varric took his hat off of his head, shaking his head, "I can barely see anything unless I tilt my head."

"I don't need to aim. Just stab." Cole stepped onto a log, adjusting Trevelyan on his back as he stepped over.

"Delightful." Varric mumbled, "You know where camp is. I'll see you there. If you aren't back in an hour, I'll send out a search party."

"Thank you...Varric." Trevelyan slurred her words, burying her head into the back of Cole's neck, "Yur amas...in..."

Varric chuckled, shaking his head, "Don't take too long, alright?" Varric left after that, Cole hadn't realized before hand how slow they were going until Varric was out of sight and they had barely moved a couple of yards. Cole sighed, "This will take longer than expected."

Trevelyan mumbled something into Cole's shirt, "'S...r...ol..."

Cole furrowed his brows and turned his head to look over his shoulder at Trevelyan, "Yes?"

"So...rry...'Ole..." Trevelyan stifled in a yawn, her arms wrapping around Cole's torso to keep her from falling.

"Why?" Cole asked, looking forward. He could see the light of a fire, though it was ways away. At least twenty minutes he guessed.

Trevelyan sighed, moving her face to lean her chin on his shoulder, "I...did't mean ta' get druk...We was gonna celebrate you."

Cole smiled, "I enjoyed it."

Trevelyan giggled, "Gud...you...should enjoy life." They continued in, almost, complete silence, Trevelyan mumbling once and a while and burying her face in Cole's neck.

"We're close." Cole whispered, looking over his shoulder at Trevelyan.

"I..." Trevelyan sighed and moved her chin back on Cole's neck, "Cole..."

Cole stopped walking but continued to stare straight ahead, "Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

"You don't need to—"

"I feel like I forced you to become more...human." Trevelyan confessed, fixing her gaze on the side of Cole's face, "I hope you aren't mad at me."

Cole tilted his head down, smiling, "I never could be."

"Good." Trevelyan moved to lay her cheek on his shoulder, "I don't think I could forgive myself if you hated me. I love you, Cole."

Cole started walking again, slower than before. He listened to Trevelyan's breath slow as he started to think about love. He's heard the others speak about it, read a few poems that he found laying around in their adventures. He remembered asking Dorian about it once.

"Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowance for human weakness."

"Allowance for human weakness?" Cole furrowed his brows, confused. "Are humans not allowed to have other weaknesses?"

Dorian chuckled, "Love is a... _different_ weakness than our usual ones. Love can not die—even if you loath the person with your entire being, the fact that you're putting so much effort into the hate you feel just proves even more that you care about the person."

"That doesn't make sense." Cole only became more confused as he listened to Dorian speak.

"It is hard to explain, my friend." Dorian shrugged, rubbing his chin in thought, "Perhaps, one day, you will know what love feels like. Know what it is like to love and be loved in return."

"Do you love me?" Cole asked, his head tilted at the mage.

Dorian chuckled and held his hands up, "I will not be getting into that now. I tolerate you, I'm still trying to get use to traveling with a spirit _and_ having it awake in the tent with me while I sleep."

"Not even as a friend?" Cole left his head tilted, his hat starting to slip off.

"I—" Dorian rubbed the back of his neck and sighed, "Yes...As a friend."

A snore from Trevelyan knocked him out of his thoughts as she fell into a deep sleep. The camp fire was closer now, only fifty yards away. He could see Blackwall, Bull, Varric, Dorian and Cassandra sitting around the fire. They silenced as they saw Cole enter the camp with Trevelyan on his back. Dorian stood up and walked over to Trevelyan's tent, holding the flap open for them. Cole walked in, Dorian let go of the flap after, and set Trevelyan down on her bed roll. Trevelyan turned onto her side, huddling up with her pack as she pulled it to her chest.

"Goodnight..." Cole stood back up, turning away and heading out of the tent, "Trevelyan."

"Love." Cole spoke as he sat down with his friends around the fire, "That is what I want to learn next, have to learn next."

"Don't worry, Kid." Varric chuckled moving over to Cole and placed his hat back on his head, "We'll help you."


End file.
